Turkey Earthquake Kills 159 People

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, May 2, 2003

Hanefi Beldek picked up scraps of paper and notebooks scattered around the rubble of a dormitory that collapsed in an earthquake three days ago, killing at least 79 of his schoolmates.

"What I'm really looking for is my diary that was signed by all my friends. There is nothing in the world that I want more right now," the 15-year-old boy said, crying.

The magnitude 6.4 quake, which struck early Thursday, has killed at least 159 people in the region.

"The sky opened suddenly and the entire third floor went down like an elevator," Beldek said. "I can't stop thinking about that horrible night. I can't leave this place. I don't sleep and I don't eat."

Rescuers said there was little chance anyone was still alive under the concrete slabs and twisted steel of the dormitory, and no one has been found alive there since Friday morning.

Even so, hundreds of people stood waiting nearby, some still hoping for a miracle.

"I will not lose my hope until the last one comes out," said Mustafa Gurhan, the school's principal. "Their faces are constantly in my mind."

Fehmi Birgonul, 15, said he last heard his best friend's voice when he screamed from behind the wall.

More than 1,000 were injured by the quake, officials in the nearby city of Bingol said. It was unclear whether the official death toll included all the bodies pulled from the dormitory rubble.

The earthquake collapsed the dormitory housing 198 children, most of them the sons and daughters of poor Kurdish farmers from surrounding villages with no schools of their own.

President Bush, from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, offered condolences and unspecified aid for the victims of the earthquake.

"The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with those directly affected by this tragedy and with the entire Turkish nation," Bush said. "The United States stands ready to help in any way possible."

Meanwhile, inspectors took samples from the crumbled dormitory Saturday after the government launched an investigation into the contractor who built the collapsed school. The columns of the four-story building apparently lacked steel support rods and sufficient concrete, and the collapsing building crushed the children as they slept.

Although Turkey has suffered several massive quakes over the past decade, experts say little has been done to address the problem of poor construction, which was blamed for many of the more than 18,000 deaths from 1999 quakes in western Turkey.

Attention turned to increasing relief aid Saturday, a day after police clashed with Kurds angry over the slow distribution of tents, food and water.

Bingol Gov. Huseyin Avni Cos said 15 policemen and four civilians were injured. Two policemen were in serious condition, Cos said. Demonstrators threw rocks at police vehicles and government buildings after police fired warning shots and drove a van through the crowd, injuring several demonstrators.

Cos said 10,000 tents still were needed. Turkey's Red Crescent said it was sending enough tents to house 60,000 people. Tens of thousands of blankets, tons of food and mobile bakeries have also been sent to the area.

Tensions between security forces and Kurds have been high since a 15-year uprising and the ensuing government crackdown killed 37,000 people and left hundreds of thousands more displaced.

Meanwhile, two moderate quakes of magnitudes 4.5 and 3.7 shook the popular Mediterranean resort of Antalya on Saturday. No injuries or damages were reported, but some people fled their homes in a panic.